Boris Smotrov. Way to the forefront Automatic translate

The work of Boris Smotrov, who belongs to the generation of the sixties, lies somewhat aloof from the second Russian avant-garde - a unique artistic phenomenon, which was based on the formal, plastic and coloristic discoveries of artists of the early twentieth century. Abstracting from the current time and creating a universal bucolic space, the author follows his own path: as if he is trying to find a certain visual code of Russianness, exploring the folk carnival culture. The images of peasants and village landscapes created by him are full of enthusiasm and painted in a bright decorative manner, emphasized by a conditional futuristic accent. This is a kind of theater, the style of which you gradually begin to understand and accept: symbols and images of Russian culture are so famously involved in it - from Venetsianov to Kustodiev, from icon painting to Malevich, the forgotten energy of folk festivals is so actively spread.

The dense, bright, saturated local color, simplified form, almost poster-like clarity of the composition (the artist, in addition to painting, also deals with the poster), along with characteristic plots taken from the village calendar - mowing, reaping, songs, festivities - turn Boris Smotrov’s paintings into plastic formulas of Russian folk life with a fabulous folklore-epic hue. This freedom in recreating the worldview of ideal Russian life, a paradise of village life, reveals a metaphysical meaning in the author’s works.

“The connection in the artist’s soul of the world of the visible, real and conditional, intangible, deep into the millennia, laid down by nature at the genetic level, is a form of my existence in painting,” says Boris Smotrov. “The Sun, Light, Life, Color are the essence of my being and creativity.”

The joyful pictorial utopia created by the author draws the viewer into a peculiar game based on recognizing and searching for parallels in the associative field of culture. The artist gives us either a telescope or a kaleidoscope through which we see a tale of a golden age.

about the author

Boris Smotrov is an acknowledged artist, but at the same time constantly developing, refining his style. Since 1980, he has been regularly invited to participate in exhibitions in Paris, New York, New Jersey, Seoul, Harbin, Vienna. He exhibited a lot in Russian museums. In 1996, Boris Smotrov won the Grand Prix at the All-Russian Exhibition-Competition "Golden Brush" in the Central House of Artists (Moscow).

The author’s works are presented in many public and private collections, including the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Zimmerli Art Museum (Norton Dodge collection, New Brunswick), the M’ARS Center for Contemporary Art (Moscow), the Museum of Contemporary Russian Art (Jersey City), Museum of the History of Moscow, Academy of Arts of the Russian Federation, Russian Contemporary Art Foundation Zurich, collection of paintings of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation, private collection of Natalia Kostaki, private collection of Valery Dudakov, private collection of Alexander Voronin, etc.

Boris Smotrov’s exhibition “The Way to the Vanguard” is exhibited for the first time in St. Petersburg, at the Erarta Museum of Modern Art.